Legacy of Darkness
by A Raven's Heart
Summary: What happens when the past comes back to haunt the present? Set in the NC0 Era with strong ties to CC/GF. Takes place following the Royal Cup.
1. Chapter 1

The night air was fairly chilly, but not enough to deter the once invincible Tiger's Team from their evening meal of noodles as they bantered back and forth about their humiliating loss at the hands of the Judgeman in the Royal Cup. Having moved down a few ranks since then, they were not quite ready to give up, but finding the will to push themselves to do better harder and harder. "I can't believe we were defeated again," Lineback quipped, an annoyed look of his face. Omari nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we need to find a way to wipe away that Fuzzy Pandas nickname once and for all!" Kirkland groaned, "Can't a guy eat his meal in peace!?" The other two fell silent as they looked at him for a moment before sighing and going back to eating their noodles. The only sound was the burner on the small fire that was glowing in front of them, illuminating the dark desert where they sat. Their three zaber fangs stood proudly nearby, with only faint traces of the firelight glowing upon them. As they finished up their meager meals, the faint sounds of a zoid moving in the distance could be heard. Kirkland stood up to scan the dark horizon for the source of the sound. It took him some time, but he was finally able to make out the dark outline of a medium sized zoid heading in their direction. "Omari, Lineback – can you tell what that is?" "Sorry bro, too dark to tell," Omari shook his head, but it was Lineback that make a more observant comment. "That looks like another zaber." All three watched in silence as the dark zoid came to a halt nearby to their lighter colored ones. The pilot jumped out of the cockpit and came up to them into the light. "Need a savior, boys?"

Kirkland was the first to react with annoyed back, "Savior? Ha! Don't make me laugh; we don't need a savior, especially not from the likes of you." Omari chimed in following this "Yeah, I bet that Dr. Layon sent you!" "We don't want anything to do with him!" Lineback tossed in as well. The other zaber pilot, a female, chuckled, "Hardly, boys. I'm a freelance pilot looking to lend a hand to my fellow zaber fang pilots, and to prove I'm not lying to you I'll fight for free with you in your next battle and will guarantee you a win." The three looked between each other a minute before Kirkland waved his teammates off to the side as they talked it over. "She's offering to work for free, how can we turn that down?" "Are you crazy?! We don't need anyone's help, besides, remember the last time we took help from someone claiming to be a savior?" "Yeah, but we need the wins if we're ever going to be able to take revenge on the Blitz Team and their Bit Cloud for starting this whole mess for us." "Let's give it a go, we don't have to pay a thing and if it doesn't work out we won't be any worse off than we are now." They all nodded to each other, then turned around to face her. Kirkland spoke for them, "Alright, but you better not be lying to us." The women chuckled, "Don't worry, you won't lose. Now, let me introduce myself, my name is Sloane and this here is my partner, Angra." The teammates looked between themselves again, then back at this other warrior. Kirkland spoke again, "You mean you named your zoid?" He starts laughing and the other two soon chime in with their laughter as well. Sloane smirks and shakes her head, "Not exactly." This gets the three males to stop and look at her, Omari and Lineback looking a little creeped out by her smirk.

A small dragon looking zoid appears from the shadows, stepping out from behind one of the zaber's legs. It comes forward and lets out a growl, Sloane only smiles. "This, boys, is Angra. A one of a kind organoid who combines all the best power one could ask for in such a partner." All three members of the Zaber Fang's team look completely dumbfounded. Omari speaks first, "A – an organoid?" Lineback falls in with Omari as he continues, "Like the organoid systems in the Liger Zero and Berserk Fury?" The female warrior grins, "No, better." The three males all shake the look of disbelief from their faces as Kirkland speaks, "Alright, so you say that we can win with you on our team? We'll set up a battle tomorrow and see if you can prove yourself worthy." Sloane grins and nods her head, "You don't be disappointed. Now get some rest for yourselves so you won't be too tired for that battle tomorrow." The female warrior turns and walks back toward her zoid, the dark organoid following behind her.

Omari and Lineback look at Kirkland and speak together, "This better be worth it, Bro." Kirkland smiles a bit, "Well if the legends I've heard about those small zoids are true, then it will be." With that, the boys put out their fire and grab their sleeping bags to get some shut eye. Sloane, on the other hand, doesn't go to sleep right away. She pulls out some tools and begins to make some adjustments to her zaber as Angra curls up and falls asleep not too far away. Once she finishes, she pulls out her own sleeping bag and gets right to sleep.

***

Early the next morning, at the Champ base, Sebastian and Benjamin came running into the main hanger where Harry Champ sat with a cup of coffee. The two robots came to a halt in front of him and Sebastian spoke first, "Our next battle's been decided!" Benjamin followed him his counterpart's sentence with his own, "And it's this afternoon against the Zaber Fangs." Harry, who hadn't looked up when they began to speak, finally brought his attention up to his robots. "Zaber Fangs, aye? Well, looks like we're going to get another win under our belt!" A large grin spread across his face, "And I'll be one more battle closer to my Leena!" The two robots looked between each other and shared a similar sigh, shaking their heads. "Oh Harry, you really should forget about that girl." "Yes, she's really not worth the trouble." Harry's grin faded as he shook his head, then stood up and stretched out. "You two just don't understand how deep my love for her is." Both robots sighed again and muttered at the same time, "We're beginning to get a picture." Harry ignored the comment and looked up to the zoids in his hanger before bringing his gaze back to his loyal servants. "So, what's the battle mode?" "0982." Benjamin spoke first and Harry nodded in response to this, "As I figured." He laughed as another stupid grin crossed his features. "Look out Zabers! The Champ Team's gonna bring you down!" His laughter echoed throughout the large halls as Benjamin and Sebastian shook their heads.

***

As the sun broke over the desert horizon, the Zaber Fangs began to stir. The first up, Lineback, took note that their 'new teammate', Sloane, was already up and about. Kirkland was the next up and first to notice that Sloane was doing something to their zoids. "Hey! What gives?! What're you up to?" His shouting forced the final member of the team, Omari, to wake up and look around a little disoriented. Sloane looked up and smiled to the three, "Just making some adjustments. The battle's been decided on. It's this afternoon against the Champ Team in battle mode 0982." "0982? That means only three of us can fight." The still dazed Omari managed to point out. Sloane nodded, going back to work on the zoid, "That's right, and you'll have to decide amongst yourselves who's going to sit this one out." A silence fell as the three males whispered among themselves, Sloane ignoring the faint bits of the conversation she could hear from them as she worked. Angra growled a bit and she chuckled, "Yes, I know, don't worry about it. You'll get some action soon, I promise. Even if this doesn't go well, we can go back to our team and continue to fight in battles more our class."

Not having heard the female warrior's conversation with her organoid, Omari, Lineback, and Kirkland continued to discuss who would sit the fight out. Finally it was decided, the short straw was drawn by Omari and he would sit out the battle. They looked up to Sloane to see her finishing up with the last zoid and righting herself, walking over to them. "What'd you do to our zoids?" Lineback demanded, the other two nodding their agreement with his question. "Don't get yourselves in a twist over it; I just modified the natural healing ability of your zoids, so they can repair minor damage themselves. It's really quite simple and I'm sure you'll find it effective in the future." The three looked a bit confused, but shook it off and Kirkland spoke. "We've decided that Omari's going to sit this one out." He fell silent a minute before getting a nudge from Omari, "Oh yeah, what's the battle plan?" Sloane chuckled, a small smirk accompanying it. "That's simple; you and Lineback cover for me while I take care of this battle for you." She turned and walked over to her zoid, Angra following her. In the bright light of the day, it was clear that the organoid was a deep blue, almost green color. It was also clear that Sloane's zaber fang was not at all like theirs, or what was common. "What kind of zaber fang is that?" Omari asked as the trio looked up to the black, red, and gold zaber. Its pilot looked over her shoulder at them, "It's a Zaber Fang SS, a completely custom zoid with incredible rang and maneuvering capabilities. It's ground to air combat is also increased as well as various other aspects of the zoid." This time Kirkland spoke, "SS? Never heard of it." The other two nodded with their leader's words. Sloane chuckled, "And for good reason, this type of zaber hasn't been used since the war between the Empire and the Republic. It was Karl Shubaltz's custom built zoid. Of course this one is a remake, since the original was destroyed by the Death Stinger."

As the words came from Sloane's mouth, the look of shock and disbelief only grew on the male's faces. "How – how do you know all that?" Kirkland managed to speak again and Sloane shook her head, "That's a story for another time, don't you think? Now come on, get yourselves prepared for the battle, we don't have much time, the battle location is a fair distance from here." After a minute, they all nodded and got themselves up and running about checking on their zoids, still not trusting her. They all found her story hard to believe, as bits and pieces of it were no more than legends. But the fact that she had what was indisputably an organoid, her story was hard to ignore.

***

The first to arrive at the battle site, the Zaber Fangs set up camp just outside the battle zone, where Omari and Angra, and the third zaber fang would wait until the end of the battle. All in their zoids, Sloane opened a channel to all three. "Omari, you're our eyes and ears out there, if you see anything strange and noteworthy, let us know. Kirkland, Lineback, once this battle starts just cover me with a blanket of fire and I'll take care of the rest." "Roger." The three responded together as the combat zoids moved forward. The Champ Team's whale king could be seen landing not too far off, and Champ Team soon disembarked from their transport. A heldigunner, stealth viper, and dark horn were their choice zoids. Not moments later, the judge capsule landed. Once the judge, himself, was actually exposed he began his speech at once. "The area within a 30 miles radius is a designated zoid battlefield – this zone is now restricted; only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger, all others must leave the area at once. This zone is now redistricted, danger." Both teams advanced forward, coming to a halt where they could clearly see each other. Sloane moved just a bit more forward than her teammates, speaking to them over the com. "Now remember, boys, just hang back and leave the real combat to the pro. All you need to do is keep them blanketed with heavy fire." "Roger." They both responded as everyone's attention went back to the judge. "Area scanned, battlefield setup. The Zaber Fangs versus the Champ Team; battle mode 0982. Ready? Fight!" As the judge's hands came together with the announcement of the battle, Sloane's zaber fang roared and charged forward.

***

Within a café at the nearby Romeo City, the Blitz Team sat enjoying lunch as the battle commenced. "Hey look, it's the Zaber Fangs." Leena pointed out. "And Harry." Bit added with a laugh. "This should be a boring battle." As the group looked up, they took note of the black zaber fang. "Would you look at that, wonder what kind of zaber fang that is." Jamie asked, looking at Dr. Toros for an answer. The look on his face, however, told that he would have no useful answer. "Wow, I don't know, all I know is I want one! Look how cool it is!" "Aww, come on Doc." Jamie sighed and fell silent along with most everyone else in the café who was now watching the battle, aware of the newly hired team member on the Zaber Fangs' team. A few tables away sat Naomi with Brad and Leon. "Would you look at that, seems like the Zaber Fangs finally wised up and hired a mercenary." Naomi laughed a little bit. Brad chuckled as well, "They're still probably going to lose, Harry's gotten pretty good." Brad only remained silent as he focused his attention on the battle, thinking to himself as he watched. I know I've seen something about that type of zaber fang somewhere, but where? He mulled it over in his head as he, along with his companions, watched the battle unfold.

***

Back on the battlefield, Sebastian was already out and Sloane had moved her sights to Benjamin. Sloane's zaber fang roared as she ran it to the side of the stealth viper, rotating her laser vulcan gun at an almost one hundred and eighty degree angle, firing and taking the viper out quickly. She turned her zoid to face Harry in his dark horn and grinned, speaking. "Get ready to wrap this up, boys, this battle's about done." Harry growled as he heard Sloane, "Oh no you don't!" He started to fire like mad at the approaching zaber fang. At the last second, Sloane pulled up as her zaber lept up and landed on top of the dark horn, the zoid's fangs sinking in and grabbing one of the guns to pull off as she went. The black zaber fang landed, the large vulcan gun in its mouth as Sloane turned herself around to watch as the top of Harry's dark horn let off a small explosion. She dropped the gun and lowered her zoid a bit, watching the dark horn. It wasn't moving, and moments later the judge spoke. "The battle is over, the battle is over. The winner is, the Zaber Fangs!" Omari, Lineback, and Kirkland broke out into cheers as Sloane folded her arms across her chest, letting out a low chuckle.

Back in the café, everyone there was stunned at the outcome of the battle. At the table with the Blitz Team, Bit spoke first. "So what do ya know, the Fuzzy Pandas actually won." "Who'd a thought?" Leena added, a little surprised herself. Jamie shook his head, "That was impressive, but it was all that black zaber fang." Dr. Toros nodded in agreement with Jamie's assessment. "Jamie's right, I wonder who the pilot is." "The pilot's name is Sloane." Leon's voice chimed in as he, along with Naomi and Brad, stopped at the Blitz Team's table. Everyone looked up at Leon, and his sister spoke first. "You mean you actually know that pilot?" Leon nodded and everyone else looked a little surprised. "I met her along my travels when I left the Blitz Team. She was one of the ones that totaled my shield liger, and with that zoid too. I think she called it a Zaber Fang SS, the SS being short for 'Shubaltz Special'. I learned a lot in my battle with her, she taught me quite a bit about what it means to bring out the full potential of a zoid." Bit spoke first in response, "No kidding? Huh, never seen that zoid before, she must be very select in her battles." Leon nodded, "She is, which is why I'm surprised she teamed up with the Zaber Fangs, last I hear, she was a Class S warrior." Leena's eyes widened a bit, "Class S? No way! How come we haven't faced her yet then?" Her brother shrugged, "Like I said, she is selective in her battles. So either she's gearing up to fight you guys, or doesn't think you're worth it." This prompted an annoyed look from Bit, "Not worth it?! Liger and I are the most amazing duo ever, she's just too afraid to face us in battle." For the first time, Brad spoke, "Easy there, Bit, don't go rushing into anything." Bit, however, ignored him as he continued to rant. "I hope I run into her so I can challenge her to a battle. I'll prove that she's just afraid of us because Liger and I are such an amazing duo." Everyone else sighed and shook their heads, only Jamie speaking. "There he goes again."

The door to the café opened and Sloane, herself, walked in. Having left with the Zaber Fangs to come and get her zoid checked out. A bit hungry, she had planned to go to the café and eat in peace, but when she was spotted by the gathered group who had just been discussing her, she didn't get very far. "That's here." Leon pointed out and Bit stood up and ran over to her. "You! Sloane!" With a sigh, she looked up at the blonde male and arched a brow. "Yes?" "I challenge you to a battle, to prove that Liger and I are worth your time." The raven haired warrior let out a low and cold laugh, "Is that so, Bit Cloud? You are as immature as ever, but fine. It will be a one-on-one battle with no restrictions. I'll prove to you that you are nothing and that all your skill as a pilot comes from your zoid." Without another word, Sloane looked over her shoulder and barked out at her organoid, who had hesitated at the door, to follow. She went to an empty table and sat down, ordering a drink and sandwich. When her drink came, she started at the cup for a moment before picking it up and taking a sip. Angra sat down off to the side where he'd be out of the way. Leon came up to her after the group that he had been gathered with dispersed. Before he could say anything, though, Sloane acknowledged him. "Leon, it's been a while. I hear you haven't been doing too bad for yourself. How's that blade liger working out?" Leon seemed surprised for a moment, but shook it off and sat down across from her and she looked up to him as he spoke, "You'd be right, and the liger's fine. What about you? What made you decide to team up with the Zaber Fangs?" Sloane looked down at her drink again and brought it to her lips, taking a sip before placing it back down. She didn't look up at Leon again, though. "I haven't had a good battle in a while and though I'm working below my rank, I didn't see the problem with it. I think I've pushed them in the right direction. The zaber fang is such a powerful zoid, they just need to learn to draw out its full potential and they'll be a force to be reckoned with. But at this point I only hope I showed them that simply charging into battle with guns blazing isn't the way to do it." Leon nodded, "It might take more than that, but it was an interesting battle all the same. You have my congratulations." Sloane shook her head as she took another drink, "That battle wasn't really worth it; it was too easy a win. But that's how battles seem to go, there's no real challenge or strategy to it anymore." Sloane looked up to Leon who looked only slightly puzzled. "What do you mean by that?" She shook her head though, "Perhaps another time I'll explain." A silence settled over them and Leon quickly took the hint that he was to leave. Just has he stood up to go, however, Sloane spoke again, "Wait, Leon – I want you to join my team." Leon stopped and looked back to her, "What?" She looked up at him, "You heard me. I want you to join my team. You are the best zoid pilot I have seen since I've been here, and I could use someone else on my team." Leon blinked a few times and looked over his shoulder to see that Brad and Naomi were still there. Since the end of the Royal Cup, the trio had been a team, as Leon hadn't been so willing to just drop out of the team and become a freelance warrior again. He was still unsure about Sloane's request, though, so decided on the best answer he could come up with. "How about I think about it? I'll watch your match with Liger Zero and see what happens, and then I'll make my decision." Slone nodded, "I wouldn't expect any less from you, Leon Toros." Neither spoke again as Leon left to join up with his team. Shortly following, Sloane's food was brought to her and she ate her meal slowly, watching the new battle that had come up on the large screen.

***

Sometime later, as the sun was beginning to give way to the twin moons, Sloane was making her way back to the place where she had left her zoid. After speaking with the man behind the counter, she got her zoid back and headed back to her base. The base, which was actually nothing more than converted ruins of an old military installation, was a good size and had suited her well up until this point. Her zoids were kept in the underground hanger, though she only had a few. She brought her zaber fang in and hopped out of the cockpit, Angra landed next to her and roared. She nodded, "Yes, I know, but if Bit and his Liger don't prove themselves worthy enough, Leon may be our only choice. No one seems to have a clue about what some of the former members of the Back Draft are up to. Come up, we need to rest up so we can train tomorrow. The battle with the liger is in two days and we've got to be ready." Angra nodded, then growled. This made Sloane laugh a bit, "No, I'm not going to use the zaber fang." Angra growled again and she sighed, "No, I need more maneuverability than the dibison can offer, that's why I'm going to use the saix." The organoid growled again and Sloane shook her head, "I'm sorry, but not in this battle. It wouldn't be fair, now would it?" Angra growled and brought another laugh from his partner, "I'm aware of the organoid system in the liger. But remember I've been studying it, so I won't have a problem dealing with that, even if it has learning capabilities." The organoid let out a metallic sigh as he gave up and followed her out of the hanger.

***

The next morning, Sloane was up early to take the saix out for a run. When she came back, she noted that she had company. It was the Zaber Fangs and she sighed, slowing the saix down until he had come to a halt before opening the cockpit and looking at the three gathered warrior. "Can I help you boys?" She called out to them and they looked up at her, slightly annoyed. Kirkland, as usual, spoke for them, "Yeah, it's about our next battle tomorrow." Sloane jumped down and shook her head at them, "Sorry, boys, but I've got a battle lined up." "What?!" All three of the male's cried out, Kirkland finding words to continue. "What'd a mean? We need you to help us win again!" Sloane shook her head once more, "I've got a battle with the Liger Zero tomorrow and refuse to back out of that to help lowly warrior like yourselves. The only reason I helped you yesterday was so that I could prove to you that there is so much more you can do with a zaber fang, and hoped that you could pick up some tips on how to draw out the full potential of the zoids. I had no intention of staying with you. I'm a Class S warrior, and such battles like you have are well below me." "Wha – what? Class S warrior? You never said that!" Lineback snapped, the other two nodding in agreement. "Sorry, but now I must ask that you leave, I have quite a bit of prep to do for my battle tomorrow." Angra appeared and growled rather threateningly to the trio and they quickly scampered out of her hanger, but not before getting a good look at the zoids she had there, one of which was a type they had never seen before.

The zoid in question was one not seen since the time of the Guardian Force before, and shortly after, the demise of the ultimate death saurer. Something that would rival the power of the berserk fury, the geno breaker, an evolved form of one of the three geno saurers used by the Fuma Team during the Royal Cup. Angra had managed to commandeer one at the time and since the Back Draft had fallen through; there was no one to notice the disappearance of the rather powerful zoid. Sloane looked up at the geno breaker, "The fools, they could never fathom the power behind such zoids, none of these insignificant people could or can. I'll show them all what it means to draw out the full potential of a zoid. And you, saix, are going to help me with that." Her gaze shifted to the lightning saix that stood where she left it. With a sigh, she left the hanger to relax for a bit before heading out again, this time into town to the same café she had been at the previous day. As she hopped down from her zoid, she noted three other pilots that she recognized to be from the Lightning Team. "Nice zoid." Quipped the male in the group and Sloane put on hand on her hip, chuckling. "One of the best." "Hnh, perhaps you'd like to battle sometime, would be an interesting match at the very least." The male's deep voice flowed out as the two girls standing behind him grinned. One of them spoke up, "Not that it'd be any match." Sloane grinned, "Is that so? You think you can beat the original?" The male only smirked as his twin companions looked a little surprised. "We'd have to see." He spoke before turning and leaving. Sloane shook her head and headed inside the café, "So much for laying low around here, huh Angra?" She said to her organoid with a chuckle, and he responded in kind as they took the same table that they had occupied the day before.

***

The next day, Sloane was up early once again and taking her zoid out for a run before the battle. Rather than going back to her base, though, she went straight to the battle field. The Hover Cargo that seemed trademark to the Blitz Team appeared over the horizon and Sloane looked up to the sky for the judge capsule that wasn't far behind. The battle field was large, and would prove perfect for the speed of the lightning saix. Sloane wasn't far from the Hover Cargo, and therefore saw the liger zero launch with its schneider armor. This brought a smirk to her features as she looked to see the judge capsule land and quickly start the battle. "Here kitty, kitty." Sloane tormented Bit and his partner as she immediately started off in his direction. "What?! A lightning saix?! No way! Doc, prep Jager for combat!" Sloane chuckles, "Oh no you don't." With the push of a button, the saix burst forward to catch Liger off guard. Without missing a beat, Sloane ran her zoid around behind the Hover Cargo to hit Bit and his zoid from the other side. "Watch yourself, Bit!" Jamie called out, pointing out the direction of the saix. Bit groaned, "No way, that fast?" "When a pilot and its zoid have achieved a real bond you'd be amazed how well your zoid will perform. Piloting a zoid comes from the spirit, of the pilot and the zoid. Without that bond only a limited potential can be achieved." Bit groaned again and managed to get around behind the Hover Cargo to get up into the loading ramp and onto the maintenance deck for the jager transformation.

Sloane moved off to await the launch of the zero jager. When he did launch again, Sloane held her ground for just a moment before turning and running the saix in the other direction. Bit pushed Liger to catch up and run neck and neck with the saix. "Sorry, too slow." Sloane quipped over the com as she pushed more speed out of the saix, exceeding Bit's but a full length. She stopped and spun herself around to charge back at the liger. "This is getting old fast…" Bit growled, a bit annoyed at the situation. "Come on partner, strike… laser… claw!" He shouted as the liger's claws began to glow as he charged the saix. Sloane chuckled and put up her energy shield, the saix stopping to hold its ground while the shield took the attack. All parties watching the battle looked it absolute shock at the shield that came up on the saix. "No way! Lightning saix' don't have energy shields, what gives?" Bit cried out and Sloane smirked and spoke her response. "The capabilities of this lightning saix are far beyond the capabilities of the current model. This energy shield can withstand a direct blast from the charged particle gun of a geno breaker, so it can easily stand up to your measly little strike laser claw attack." Sloane opened up a direct link with Bit so that they could see each other, "Ready to give up yet, Bit?" He gritted his teeth and shook his head, "Not on your life." "Very well." Sloane put the shield down as she turned her zoid around to face Bit, charging at him.

Doubling her speed in a matter of seconds, she lept up and allowed the saix' claws to dig into the back of the liger, landing a few feet away, she turned around again and watched Bit and Liger carefully. The blue liger didn't move and Sloane folded her arms across her chest, "Point proven. Bit Cloud you are nothing but a rank amateur who has gotten this far because of the capabilities of your zoid alone. Only when you can draw on the strength of yourself can you reach your full potential." The judge announced the end of the battle and Sloane started off in the direction of her base when Bit's face appeared on a screen in her cockpit. He was laughing, "Good match, perhaps we can do a rematch sometime?" Sloane's look was cold, "I doubt that, and I must say the apple really does fall very far from the tree." She closed the channel and her zoid took off, disappearing over the horizon, leaving Bit and the rest of the Blitz Team confused.


	2. Chapter 2

"Our next battle has been decided!" Announced Jamie to the gathered group that consisted of himself, Leena, Bit, and Dr. Toros. "It's about time, I was starting to think there were no more opponents left for us." "Oh get over yourself Bit, that's hardly the case." "Oh yeah, how do you know?" Leena only rolled her eyes in response to him. It was Dr. Toros who spoke up next. "So who are we up against?" "The Guardian Team." "Who's that?" Bit and Leena both asked as Jamie brought up some information on the screen. "It's Sloane's team, and this is the most recent data we have on them. They've got three zoids, a lightning saix, a dibison, and a custom zaber fang. Since Sloane, herself, seems to favor the zaber, we're going to assume she'll use that zoid." Bit frowned at this, "Yeah, but remember she used that lightning saix in the last battle." Jamie nodded, "True, but in all the battle data there is on her team to date, she's always used that zaber fang." Leena started to laugh, "I'll bet she's just going to hire some nobody's to help her out and this'll be an easy battle. Since it's not just Bit, I can blow her away." "Hey! Come off it, will ya?! I told you, Liger and I were just having a bad day." Bit growled and folded his arms across his chest, only making Leena laugh harder. Jamie sighed, "Come on guys, can we focus on the battle here? It's in battle mode 0982, so I'll be going out there with you." Bit perked up after a minute and continued, "I can use Jager and totally get the upper hand on her this time. We're definitely going to win this one!" Jamie sighed again as the other two began to go off without listening again, while Dr. Toros had picked up another zoid model to build. Frustrated, Jamie eventually left the room to go work on a battle strategy.

***

A growl echoed across the hanger at Sloane's base as she argued with her organoid. "No, I just want you to find the zoid so I can use it in any upcoming battle. It's really not too much to ask, you know." Metallic footsteps soon followed as the dark organoid gave up and did as it was asked to do. Shaking her head, Sloane jumped down from where she was working on the dibison and headed to a nearby console. "So what's the story with these zoids? They're not like others of their kind, are they?" Echoed Leon's voice across the hanger, pulling a smile from Sloane as she spun around. "Leon!" He chuckled as the young women approached, "I wasn't expecting you." Leon laughed again, "I figured, but I've decided to take you up on your offer." Sloane nodded her head, "Sounds good to me, and just in time." "Oh really?" She nodded in response to his question, "We've just been assigned our next opponent – none other than the Blitz Team." Leon thought for a moment, "I thought you weren't going to face them again in battle? At least not for a while." Sloane shrugged, "I've been getting a bit restless since that last battle, so decided to accept, no harm can come of it." "That is true." He nodded in agreement with her and looked up to the dibison that stood proudly next to them. "So what's up with these zoids, are they just upgrades?" He looked back at Sloane to see her shake her head. "They've quite old, actually. It's really a wonder they can still function, but proof that Zoid Eve is still running her course." "Zoid Eve?" He asked, tilting his head a bit. Sloane nodded again, "Surely you've heard stories, rumors, and legends about her." "Of course, but I never thought they were true. Just some kid's story that made every child want to be a zoid pilot."

Sloane sighed and looked up to the dibison, "They're real, believe me. This dibison here is a rather unique one. It has an A.I. system built right into its core. Beek, was the name given to the system. It was developed by Thomas Richard Shubaltz, an Imperial soldier and later Guardian Force member. He was so proud of it, always boasted that Beek was better than any organoid." At her last comment, Angra had appeared again and growled, making Sloane and Leon laugh. "I guess Angra doesn't approve." Leon observed with a chuckle. He shook his head after a minute and directed his attention back at his new teammate. "I'm still wondering though, how can this zoid be so old? The Empire hasn't been around for, well, quite a long time." Sloane smiled a bit, "I know, the lightning saix is also from the same time, the original model, as well. Both zoids are unique in that they have special modifications that none others have like them in this day and age. Both have a special particle shield installed, based off of that of the blade liger." "The blade liger, huh? Fascinating. But if I may ask, Sloane, how did you come by these zoids and how do you know so much about them?" Angra gave out a roar in automatic protest, but Sloane waved him off. "It's a long story, but I'll try to make it as short as possible. The two zoids, as well as a lot of data from that time was stored in a special room nearby to where I was kept. You see, I am an ancient zoidian, the last of my kind – just as Angra is the last organoid. I was awakened in that time after the destruction of the first death saurer, and I served in the Imperial Army. In the exchange of zoids between the Empire and Republic, I received a Shield Liger and continued to fight, all the way until the demise of the ultimate death saurer. It was at that time that Dr. D started to run some tests on the capsules that had encased the survivors of the ancient zoidian race and wanted to see if he could reproduce this and send one of us into the future, basically." Sloane sighed a moment and looked up at the dibison they were standing under as she continued, "I volunteered, because the only other known ancient zoidians had either family or someone to be with, and it would have broken my heart to see that taken away from them. So all my memories were moved to Angra, as well as donated copies of memories from the other two zoidians, and Angra and I were enclosed in capsules again. This time, however, Dr. D set it so that after a certain period of time the capsules would open automatically. Since Angra knew what to do, there weren't going to be complications unless his capsule failed. Fortunately it didn't, and our pods opened a few months before you left the Blitz Team, I believe. Apparently these two zoids had been enclosed, along with the data I mentioned, to be found by myself and Angra when we were awakened again. My last orders were to ensure that the peace was kept and that history wouldn't repeat itself, and as the last member of the ancient zoidian race and last member of the Guardian Force, I've upheld my duties."

Leon remained silent as she spoke her speech, but when she finished, he nodded. "So is that why you don't go into many battles?" Sloane nodded, "I spend most of my time decoding the data that was provided to me, searching – in vain, it seems – for my old zoid partner, and keeping an eye on organizations such as the Zoids Battle Commission and the Backdraft Group." "The Backdraft? I thought that they were disbanded after the Royal Cup." The zoidian shook her head, "There are still a few among them who are not so willing to give up. And as Vega grows, I see Raven in him more and more and it scares me. That boy has a powerful zoid and has the ability to destroy entire cities in a matter of seconds." "Like… Raven?" "His ancestor. I've done a lot of digging on various people that I have come across, yourself included, and know quite a bit more about most people's histories than they do, but I also have the privilege of having known their ancestors." Leon folded his arms across his chest and thought a little as he looked around the hanger. "It's probably best that I don't know, isn't it?" "Probably. Let me know if you have any questions, otherwise you have free reign of the base." He nodded and continued to survey the hanger until his eyes landed on a darkened spot in the hanger, "Sloane – what, what is that?" At her name, she looked up to him and trailed his line of vision to the darkened corner of the hanger and sighed. "That is a power that should probably have never been born into this world. You recall hearing about the genosaurers that the Backdraft used in an attempt to destroy the Fury? Well those zoids are, like the dibison and saix, from that age. How they were found, I'm still not sure – and why they do not appear as they did in the time of the ultimate deathsaurer, I'll never know. The thing is, Angra and I removed those zoids from the hands of the Backdraft. Such zoids should never be in the hands of anyone, let alone those who know nothing about them. The other two are deep within this base, where I will eventually move this one. This is the geno breaker." Leon's eyes opened wide, "A geno breaker? I know my father had a model, and I'd heard my fair share of stories, but I just thought it was a legend, sparked by someone's idea for a new model." Sloane shook her head at this, "No. This is the next evolutionary step for the genosaurer, which was a side project when the first death saurer was resurrected by Prozen. It has incredible power, and I'd never use the zoid unless I had to. I couldn't stop Angra from evolving it; I'm not sure what had gotten into it." This brought a growl from the organoid in question, but Sloane ignore it. "In fact, I think I'll take it below now, such a thing needs to stay a secret." She gave Leon a pointed look to make sure he got the idea. To show that he had, he nodded and looked over his shoulder at his blade liger.

***

Early the next morning, Sloane was up and working on Leon's blade liger. It wasn't much longer before he was up and looking for his companion in the hanger. "What are you up to there, Sloane?" "Huh?" Sloane looked down from where she was to see Leon and then relaxed a bit, "Just working on some upgrades to your liger. It's nothing drastic, but I've increased your shield capacity as well as your booster speed." Leon nodded, taking a sip from the coffee that was in his hands. "Sounds good to me, but I wanted to ask, what are we going to do about another teammate. Since the battle's in mode 0982, we'll need another zoid." Sloane finished up her upgrades and jumped down, landing with a slight grunt. "I've been thinking about that, and I figure we can just go into town and pick someone up. If we take out the dibison, there won't be an issue. I figure if we can get blanket fire from the rookie, we'll be safe to handle the rest of the battle." She walked past him and picked up her own cup of coffee from a nearby console. With her free hand, she started typing and running some scans on the blade liger. "All done; now there's just one more thing I need to show you." Leon took another sip from his coffee and watched her quietly. Sloane put her mug down and walked over and flipped on the lights for the rest of the hanger, illuminating another blade liger that was crouched down with some equipment around it. The sight woke up the male team member as he looked with shock at the zoid. "How did you get a hold of a blade liger?" He asked as he looked with awe at the blue liger. "Well, it seems Angra found my old partner and didn't bother to tell me. It then proceeded to evolve the shield liger. Since the liger's zoid core had been intact, reviving the zoid hadn't been a problem, and that's all I had expected." Angra, who had been curled up next to the liger sleeping, stood and walked over, growling. "I don't believe it, this is – this is incredible." Leon commented, still awestruck.

"I'll take the blade liger into combat; against two ligers, the Blitz Team won't stand a chance. And the heavy fire from the dibison should help give us some good cover too." Leon nodded and looked back at her, "Well I wasn't expecting this, should be an interesting battle." She nodded, and then looked at her organoid. "Load the dibison and Leon's liger onto the gustav, then have my liger standing by." Angra growled an acknowledgement and headed off. "I guess we're not coming back here before the battle." Sloane nodded to him, "That'd be right, and we'll be heading out here shortly. Finding a pilot is only half the battle, we need to make sure they won't freak out of I have Beek take over controls." It was Leon's turn to nod as he finished his coffee and left quietly. Sloane sighed and picked her mug up and finished her drink up as well and went to make sure final preparations were ready.

***

After arriving in the local town, they went right into the small café, looking around for an empty place to sit. Some whispers came up as the trio – Sloane, Leon, and Angra – found a place to sit and moved across the room to do so. The whispers were of who the warriors were, and what Angra could possibly be. Most everyone simply assumed that it was nothing more than a young wild zoid. And after a few long minutes, the normal noise level returned to the room as everyone went back to what they had been doing. One young man dared to approach them, and only Leon looked up to him as he spoke. "So I hear your team's going into a battle against the Blitz Team this afternoon." Sloane was the one to reply, not looking up at him and her voice cold and calm. "So what's your point?" The man who had approached them growled a bit, but held back any nasty responses to continue, "I hear it's a three on three battle, and I only see two warriors, which means you're looking for another pilot." "And you think you're what we need, hnh, get lost." "Huh? What?! You can't do that to me! Do you have any idea who I am, punk?" "A smart-mouth who has no idea what he's dealing with. Get lost, I'd hate for anything to happen to that precious zoid of yours." The man snarled, but left when threatened by Angra's deep growl, leaving the café altogether and, notably, seen leaving for a black redler. Leon's gaze shifted from the man to Sloane as he watched her closely, wondering how she knew anything about the pilot. "We don't need a cocky warrior who thinks himself better than everyone here." She commented without prompt and finally looked up to survey the café.

"What's your name, warrior?" Sloane spoke when she noted someone else had approached them. Leon had looked down, but snapped his eyes up when he heard his companion speak; his eyes going between Sloane and the new mercenary who had approached them, curious what was different about this man as opposed to the other who had just been chased off. "Max. You looking for another warrior? I'm the man for the job; I can pilot anything from a cannon tortoise to a gojulas." "That's somewhat impressive, but can you pilot any of those zoids well?" The man snorted, as if offended by the question, "Of course, I wouldn't approach you if I wasn't confident in my ability." "Fine, you'll be piloting a dibison. Meet us outside in an hour." Without another word, Sloane stood and started out, Angra following closely behind. Leon wasn't too far after, having a hard time taking this all in. By the time he got outside, Sloane was chasing off some admirers of the blade ligers. "What? Never seen a liger before? Beat it." Leon watched her silently, wondering if she was always this snappy to people. He wondered if it had something to do with the circumstances of how and why she was here, but he shook it off deciding it best not to dwell on it.

Right on time, the warrior known as Max appeared outside the café as he was instructed. Angra landed behind the man and growled, showing him the way to the gustav where Sloane and Leon were waiting. The mercenary was a little scared at first by Angra, but relaxed when he decided that no harm was going to come to him from it and allowed himself to be led off. "Good, you're right on time, get in the gustav and we'll explain on the way – Angra, you take the liger again." The organoid nodded and ignited its boosters as it took off into the air. Just at the peak of the boost, it turned down and fused into the blue blade liger." The warrior, Max, stared in absolute shock at this, but was soon coaxed into the gustav by Leon and Sloane.

When they arrived at the battle site, the zoids we unloaded and Angra appeared again out of a deep blue light next to the liger. The three warriors got out of the gustav and Sloane pointed at the dibison as she spoke to Max, "You will be piloting a custom dibison." She started to walk over to it, and he followed as Leon got into his red blade liger and started the battle prep. Sloane helped the mercenary into cockpit and took a couple things from the cockpit and started to explain as she attached these systems together, and then placed the main unit on the side of her face. "This dibison has an A.I. installed right into its zoid core. I have a direct link with this," she pointed to what she had just put on, "but I'll only use it if you need help. There's also a shield installed in the twin crasher horns if you feel you get too overwhelmed by the barrage from the gunsniper. That said, I want you to focus on keeping that zoid busy, and leave the rest to us. Just be careful with this zoid, it's older than you can imagine." With that, Sloane jumped down from the dibison and started toward her own zoid. Max freaked out a little when the dibison started up, a helmet coming from behind the pilot's seat and sitting itself over his head with ease.  
"Angra, stay with the gustav. We won't need you for this battle." The organoid roared and climbed up onto one of the trailers to watch what he'd be able to see of the battle. The other three advanced forward and halted just inside the range of the battle field. The Hover Cargo could be seen on the other end of the battle field and all eyes went to the sky as the judge capsule started to descend toward the battle field. With the start of the battle, Sloane made one final comment before everything got rolling, "Stick to the plan and keep an eye on the liger zero." "Roger." The two males responded and all three took off. A screen came up in front of Sloane showing Bit, "So how about that rematch now?" He said and Sloane chuckled, "Sorry, you've got another opponent."

***

"I'll go on ahead and check out the enemy zoids." Jamie called out as he flew toward the other end of the battle field. In the mean time, Bit contacted Sloane looking for a rematch. After being blatantly denied, he thought about what she meant when Jamie's voice came crying over the com channel. "There's a dibison and two blade ligers – wait a minute, one of them's Leon!" "What?!" Leena cried out over the com in response as the pair of blade ligers came into clear view of Bit and Leena. "Leon." Bit said to himself as he and the liger charged forward toward their rival. "Been a while since we've met in battle, time for another rematch." "I'm game." Bit responded and charged toward his rival. The two ligers engaged in combat instantly as Sloane started to stalk Jamie and his raynos. "You and me warrior, let's go." Sloane said to Jamie and put her booster on to catch up with the high speed zoid. "I don't think so," came back the hardened response of the Wild Eagle. Sloane smirked and stopped her zoid and brought the blades forward into firing position and waited for the raynos to fly overhead. The Wild Eagle started a run right at the blue liger, firing all the way. Sloane put her shield up to repel the incoming fire and turned it off when the Wild Eagle and his raynos got closer. She extended her blades and they began to glow shortly thereafter and right at the last second, she jumped and landed on the back of the raynos, pushing it to the ground. She landed and turned around, putting on her booster as she charged the zoid as it started to pick itself up. The Wild Eagle cried out as his legs were cut out from underneath his zoid and the raynos collapsed forward, its combat system freezing up as well. "Pathetically easy. I'm all done here, Leon, I'm going to back up Max and the dibison." Leon didn't acknowledge as he focused on his fight with Bit.

During the fight with the blade liger and the raynos, Max had advanced on Leena with his dibison and both began firing like crazy. It didn't take long for both to run out of ammo and the fight turned into a standoff. "Too slow." Sloane's voice broke over both Leena's and Max's com systems as she charged at the gunsniper. Leena screeched, "Get away from me!" and tried her best to dodge the incoming blade. She wasn't able to dodge completely, and her weapons were sliced off her zoid. The blades on the liger folded back up and she turned to face the gunsniper, which was stubbornly still standing. Sloane fired off two shots from her dual cannon, mounted on the blade liger's chest, and took out Leena's zoid with ease. "Max, I want you to go back to the gustav, we'll be done here soon." "Roger that." He replied and took off in the direction of the gustav. Sloane approached the battling liger's to watch for the victor, confident that it would be Leon… this time.

***

In nearby Romeo City, the battle between the Blitz and Guardian teams was up on the large screen in the café. Naomi was sitting with Brad, both silent as they watched, though Brad would comment every now and then on his former teammates. The Zaber Fangs were still upset over being deprived the opportunity to start another winning streak. Then Harry Champ sat watching intently each time he'd recognize the familiar, overloaded, gunsniper. His two robots sat with him, trying to drag him away a couple of times, but to no avail. Last of the well known teams was the Lightning Team, though none seemed to be too terribly interested in the battle. When one of the twins, Chris, noticed the speed on the blue blade liger, she said something and the other two looked up. "What incredible speed, I didn't know a liger could move so fast." Kelly noted. Both girls looked to Jack, who seemed to be quite interested in the new found speed of the blade ligers. Jack was about to speak when Leena's zoid took a major hit from the blade liger and Benjamin and Sebastian had to drag Harry out of the café, as he had begun to make a scene over it. At this, Jack Cisco shook his head and went back to watching the screen.  
"Pretty impressive battle, don't ya think?" Naomi asked her companion who nodded a response, "The Blitz Team wasn't prepared for it though." "I noticed, but I don't think anyone was expecting to see another blade liger." To this, Brad only nodded. They both fell silent again and continued to watch the battle, as it had come down to Leon and Bit, though Sloane was standing by in case Bit did come out on top once again.

***

The battle didn't last much longer. Without the ability to go and transform, Bit was at a disadvantage against the blade liger and was soon pinned to the ground by the red liger. Sloane took this opportunity to come around in front of Leon and behind Bit as her liger bent over the pinned one. "Ready to surrender, Bit?" A frustrated reply came from the pinned warrior and the battled called in favor of the Guardian team. A dual roar rose up from the two blade ligers as Sloane piloted her's toward the waiting gustav. Leon followed shortly thereafter, but not before sending a message to Bit first. "Like I've told you before, the world of Zoid Battles is a large place, and you need to learn a lot more before you can unlock your unlimited potential. I'll see you again soon, Bit Cloud." "Wait, Leon!" cried Dr. Toros to his son and the red liger stopped, its head swiveling back to look toward the Hover Cargo. "You sure you don't want to join us again, we have a spot still open for you!" "Sorry dad, but it still isn't the right time for that. I'll see you soon, good luck in your battles." "You coming Leon?!" Sloane called over the com channel and Leon and his blade liger ran off in the direction of the waiting gustav.

They dropped off Max before heading back to base, and once the zoids were unloaded, Sloane immediately started on repairs with Angra at her side. Leon watched from off to the side, then sighed and went to go rest for a bit. Sighing, Sloane pulled her long hair out of her face as she worked, tying it back with a small band. A few dark pieces stubbornly fell back into her face, but she managed to ignore these as she inspected the dibison, reinstalling the mobile Beek unit where she had gotten it from earlier. There was minimal damage to the zoid and Sloane did enough repairs were the zoid could heal itself the rest of the way. She then moved on to running scans and checking the blue liger over. Leon came back a while later to find Sloane still working on her liger. "You think maybe you should give it a rest for the day?" "Huh? Oh, uh, sorry, I guess I got caught up in upgrading the shield and boosters." Leon laughed, "It's alright, and I just thought it might be time for a break. We just won a battle, you know." Sloane sighed and stopped in her work, running her left forearm over her forehead. "I guess you're right, I'm still not really used to relaxing after battles. I mean, before I came here, you never knew where there was going to be another battle, so you had to do repairs and upgrades and such all right after a battle. I usually worked through the night, Thomas was always on my case about it, but I can't help it I guess."

Leon remained silent as she spoke, watching her and noting the slight twinge of sadness in her voice as she spoke. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring back memories for you." Sloane shook her head, "No, it's alright, nothing can help that anyway." "In that case… you keep mentioning the name Thomas, and you have his zoid, were you two close?" Though the first part was a bit mumbled, Sloane still heard, but ignored it as she responded. "I guess you could say that. Not that we really worked together once he joined the Guardian Force, but his brother's unit was the one to find me. Actually, Karl was piloting his zaber fang at the time, which is why that zoid stuck out to me so much. But, in the long run, I didn't see either brother too often until we were all on the ultrasaurus together. I usually was up late all the time working on one thing or another, and Thomas was usually the one to find me and comment on it." Sloane sighed, "Sorry, you just reminded me of him when you said something, but don't worry about it. Come on; let's go get something to eat, shall we? The liger'll still be here later." She laughed a little and they both left to get the car and head into the nearby town for some food, and a small celebratory dinner.


	3. UPDATE

Good news for people who have an interest in this story, I have been going back over my old file for this and made revisions and edits to format, grammar and some of the story itself. The formatting and grammar revisions are complete, but I'm currently working on the fixes to the story and I hope it will help the flow of the plot as well as make it more realistic. Or at least as realistic as a fantasy story can get ;)

This story is still not complete and as a fair disclaimer I'm not sure it will ever be complete. However, I feel that if I'm going to have this story out there for the world to see, I would like it to be as well done as possible. And who knows, perhaps through my story revisions I will get the bug to continue LoD and see it through to the end.

If anyone has read the story and not yet left feedback, I encourage you to do so. Now is the perfect time for it as I'm working on the revisions. I will be breaking down what I have into smaller, easier to read chapters and uploading them hopefully once a week after my rework has been completed.

Thank you for those who have read this story, and hopefully an advanced thank you to those that will read the revisions once they're up :)


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